


New foods

by UndeadFae



Series: A wolf's pack [3]
Category: Inazuma Eleven
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Cooking, M/M, Mentions of Blood, Not Beta Read, Slice of Life, Vampires, Werewolves, fudou is there for a bit, technically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:08:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26611963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UndeadFae/pseuds/UndeadFae
Summary: In which a werewolf finds out that meat can, in fact, be eaten in other ways than just raw. The kitchen might end up being an unfortunate victim of this discovery in the future, though.
Relationships: Genda Koujirou/Sakuma Jirou
Series: A wolf's pack [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1919620
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	New foods

**Author's Note:**

> i don't even know what i'm doing rn it's so late and i just wanted to finish this tiny thing so badly after writing it for a few days... enjoy?

Unsurprisingly, humans were still coming for them on occasions, even if rarer than before. At least they were easy to handle, too foolish to really prepare like they should’ve to face the kind of monsters they thought inhabited the old castle in the woods.

To Sakuma's relief, Koujirou wasn’t taking it too badly- at least not as badly as before anymore. Humans still put him on edge and made him wary, but he wasn’t freezing completely anymore, wasn’t recklessly trying to attack driven by nothing but pure anger. It was progress, however small it might be.

The group that tried to hunt them down that day was smaller and weaker than usual. Not like Sakuma minded, it just meant less risks for his family. Getting rid of them was laughably easy, especially with Koujirou at his side, the wolf standing tall and proud after the bloodshed. Sakuma couldn’t be happier looking at him now, recovered and finally happy, most signs of abuse gone from his skin. The scars might still be there, but maybe it didn’t matter much when he could see Koujirou smile and laugh like nothing was wrong anymore. He was at home now, that was all that really mattered.

“Everything alright, Koujirou?”

The wolf just tried to shake some of the blood off before shifting, nodding as he stretched his arms.

“I’m fine… I didn’t get hurt, don’t worry.” Then, he looked at himself, scrunching his nose in vague disgust at his now bloody clothes. “… I need to change.”

Sakuma just smiled, stifling a chuckle as he watched him glare at his own clothes.

“We’ll go back in a moment, be patient.” He just had to be completely sure that there were no other humans nearby. It didn’t hurt to be sure after what happened last time.

Sighing, Koujirou just nodded and looked around, carefully sniffing the air. The only human stench he could find was of the ones they had already taken care of, but he couldn’t really blame Sakuma for his concern. With nothing better to do, he just decided to snoop around in their bags- not like they would need them again. There was food –that he happily snacked on-, some gold coins that he didn’t really care about, bottles of… something with a very strong scent- and books. Now those made him more curious than he liked to admit. Figuring there was no harm in looking, Koujirou just got comfortable sitting on the floor and opened one of them. Then, he squinted at what he found.

There were lists of things on many of the pages- he recognized some foods like meats, fruits and such- and there was much more that he had never heard of before. Then there were instructions under the lists. He didn’t quite get what any of that meant.

“Alright, this place is safe- Koujirou? What’s that?” Sakuma was finally back, now looking at him with curiosity. Koujirou just showed him the book.

“I don’t know.”

Confused, Sakuma took a quick look at the open book, eye widening in recognition.

“Oh- it’s a recipe book.” Koujirou looked just as lost as before. “It’s to cook food- they’re instructions on how to prepare certain things. Humans can’t eat raw meat or drink blood like us, so that’s how they eat.”

“Oh.” That made sense- somehow. He did remember some of the scents of the food the humans would eat. “… Is it good?”

“It depends on the recipe- there is many different ones made with different things, but usually they’re all pretty good.” Then, Sakuma smiled at him. “I can explain you some more when we’re back home, if you’d like- but we should get going by now.”

Nodding, Koujirou stuffed the book into one of the bags, glancing at the others before shrugging and gathering them all. Might as well get something out of these stupid humans still trying to bother them.

* * *

Once home and back in their now shared room, Koujirou couldn’t quite stop thinking about that book. It was silly, he didn’t really need it when he could eat just fine without it… but curiosity would eventually win either way. And so he found himself laying on the bed in his more comfortable clothes, book open in front of him, just trying to decipher what everything meant. Not like he was making much progress when he didn’t even know what garlic or oil were- and that was just the start of it.

That’s how Sakuma found him once he stepped into the room, ears low as he pouted and glared at a page like it had personally offended him. He couldn’t help the smile on his face or his soft chuckle as he sat on the bed next to him, an arm wrapped around his shoulders to hold him closer.

“Something wrong?”

Koujirou just pouted even more.

“I don’t understand.”

It wasn’t too surprising, he likely had never heard before of many things written in there. Sakuma just got a bit more comfortable next to him, leaving a quick kiss on his cheek to cheer him up before peeking at the book.

“Let me see…”

They kept going through the book for a while, Koujirou pointing at this or that word and patiently listening to Sakuma explaining at the best of his abilities, taking in everything he said. They couldn’t say it wasn’t a fun time together, Koujirou enjoyed the learning moment and Sakuma was glad to see him smile- the soft hugs and kisses midway through were just an extra, really.

Koujirou didn’t think of how odd it was for a vampire to know so much about human culture. 

* * *

A few days passed without much else going on –usual disasters at home aside-, everything just as peaceful and quiet as Sakuma liked it.

Then, Koujirou approached him, book in hand.

“I want to try to cook.”

Sakuma blinked. Koujirou wasn’t looking away or backing down- he was serious about this.

“… Why?” He could really stop himself from asking- it certainly wasn’t something he was expecting.

That’s when Koujirou finally looked away, a faint blush on his cheeks and an awkward, tiny smile on his face, tail twitching somewhat nervously behind him.

“It… it sounds tasty… I’d like to try something…”

Oh. That… made sense, actually. With how much he liked food, Sakuma should’ve probably seen it coming sooner.

“So… can we try? If you think it’s okay, I-”

Sakuma just took his hand, leaning in for a small kiss to cut him off before he could start rambling and just give up on his idea. When he pulled back, he couldn’t help but smile at Koujirou's suddenly redder face.

“I don’t mind at all. We can do whatever you want, alright?”

Koujirou blinked, looking at him first in surprise, then with a soft smile.

“Thank you.”

* * *

Turns out, finding out where to get certain ingredients without having access to markets or shops was much, much harder than Sakuma expected. He didn’t really want to give up, though, not when Koujirou was so excited at the idea of trying new food. And so he kept looking, wanting nothing more than to make his lover happy. On the bright side, some of the things they needed were already in the bags they had borrowed from the last group of humans they found. That already made things easier. The meat was the easiest part to find, they just had to go to the woods and hunt down whatever they wanted to cook. Some other stuff could be found in there as well.

The problem came with things like vegetables. The things that only humans had. Sakuma wasn’t sure how to get them at all, and there didn’t seem to be anything that would work just as well without the full list of ingredients. As much as he wanted to make Koujirou happy… the risk might be too high. And he hated thinking of having to suddenly go back on his word and tell him that what he wanted wasn’t possible anymore.

The more he thought about it, the more conflicted the situation became.

“What’s wrong now? You’re gonna scare someone away with that face.”

Sakuma couldn’t really hold back a sigh, turning around to look at Fudou.

“I’m just trying to find something-”

“The food?”

Sakuma stopped to look at him, a raised eyebrow silently asking him to elaborate. Fudou just shrugged.

“I’ve seen how much he’s excited over that book, even when he’s trying to hide it. And you’re looking like you’re getting very worked up over something- it’s not hard to put two and two together.” Fudou only needed to look at Sakuma's face to know he was right- the vampire was clearly struggling to come up with anything to say. “… I could help you with that, you know?”

Now Sakuma stopped glaring, blinking in surprise, taken aback by the sudden offer.

“What- how?”

Fudou scoffed, like the mere question was offending him.

“Did you already forget that I used to live in a human city? Just give me a list of what you need and I’ll get it.”

Sakuma was skeptical, to say the least. Especially when they were trying to go as unnoticed as possible.

“Just- promise you’ll be careful, alright?”

Fudou just rolled his eyes, nearly snatching the paper from his hands as he nonchalantly looked it over.

“Yeah, yeah- I’m an expert at this, don’t worry too much- I’ll get whatever you need to make that puppy of yours happy and I’ll be back.”

He was on his way before Sakuma even had a chance to protest and correct him. Seeing him leave so quickly, Sakuma just sighed, hoping that Fudou was right and could be trusted with this. He had no choice but to wait, now.

* * *

It was starting to get late, the sun already on its way to set, and Fudou was nowhere to be seen. Saying Sakuma was getting worried was an understatement, pacing the main hall, not quite managing to stay still. As much of an annoyance as Fudou could be at times, Sakuma didn’t really want him to get hurt- or worse. And with each minute that passed without any trace of him it was starting to look like he really had to fear the worst. Even with more or less everyone else trying to reassure him that whatever Fudou had gone to do, it wouldn’t end up as badly as he was fearing, Sakuma could hardly find any reassurance in that. Of course he knew that Fudou could take care of himself, he had survived for who knows how long in a city filled with humans that wouldn’t have hesitated to kill him at the first chance. Still.

Right as he was ready to say screw it and hastily put on a cloak to go out, the doors opened. Sakuma immediately turned to them, Fudou stepping inside with a tired sigh, disheveled and a heavy looking bag slung over his shoulder.

Before he had a chance to ask just what the hell happened, Fudou dumped the bag on him.

“There- brought some more stuff too, just in case. Go get a hobby with this or whatever.” He didn’t even wait for an answer before leaving, scurrying off to do who knows what.

For a moment, Sakuma wanted to go after him for a moment to keep talking, only to quickly push the thought away. Fudou had helped him and came back alright, that was what mattered, he could thank him later.

Sorting through everything in the bag, Sakuma was definitely surprised to find a lot more vegetables and fruits than what he needed- along with quite a few seeds too. That… that was smart. He’d have to look into gardening later.

For now, he’d go give Koujirou the good news. Maybe they could finally put the whole kitchen to good use.

Saying Koujirou was excited once he found out was definitely an understatement- his tail was wagging so much and so fast, for a moment Sakuma was worried that he might get himself hurt by total accident. It was hard to tell him to stop when he looked so genuinely happy, smile so bright as he kept talking about this or that thing he wanted to try as soon as they got to cooking while Sakuma lined up and prepared all the ingredients.

“Alright- what are we going to cook now?”

Koujirou hummed to himself as he flipped the pages, eyes scanning every word and sentence he could recognize. Then, he pointed at one of the recipes.

“This- looks easy enough.”

Sakuma glanced at the page. A baked pork dish- they could do that, the boar they had was close enough of a substitute. He just hoped it wouldn’t be harder than what it sounded.

“Alright… let’s start.”

Cleaning the meat was by far the easiest part, at least- just more time consuming than eating it raw. Koujirou at least seemed to be enjoying himself as he got rid of all the skin and chopped it up, even if the final pieces were looking a bit too rough and uneven, strands of flesh at the end just a bit mutilated by the knife and blood getting all over the table. Sakuma didn’t have the heart to comment on the mess with how happy and proud of himself Koujirou looked just for that. Cleaning up when they were done might be a little more work than what he anticipated, though.

“What’s next?” Koujirou sounded so eager to keep going that Sakuma couldn’t really care too much about the mess anymore.

“Let me see… we need to chop the vegetables and season the meat.”

Now he tilted his head, looking more than a little confused.

“Season?”

Right- he most definitely didn’t know the specifics of that either. And Sakuma didn’t really know how to explain it.

“It… it means we use spices on the food to make it tastier.” He hoped that made sense. “Here, let me show you-” quickly glancing over the rest of the ingredients, Sakuma fetched the first condiment he could find- salt would work to start. Koujirou was closely watching him as he carefully poured salt over the meat, mindful of not overdoing it and ruining it. He wasn’t exactly an expert at cooking- or had any kind of experience with it, really, being as nervous as he was over screwing this up it was a surprise that he hadn’t messed something up already. Koujirou deserved a perfect meal, after all.

Curious, as soon as Sakuma put the salt down, Koujirou reached for one of the smaller chunks of meat, taking a hesitant bite off of it, taking his time chewing on it. Sakuma wanted to believe that the fact that he hadn’t recoiled in disgust right away was a good sign.

“Tastes… different.” Maybe it really was a good sign. Maybe.

“It’ll be better after it’s cooked, trust me.” While Sakuma sorted through the rest of their ingredients to find the next spice to add, he gestured at the vegetables. “Mind chopping those while I season this?”

“Fine.” He was better at cutting than measuring and being precise, anyways.

Prepping the rest of the food actually was easier than Sakuma expected, to his surprise and relief. He would’ve had to reconsider a lot of things in his life if they managed to screw up such a simple dish. On the bright side, he managed to sneak in quite a few kisses mid cooking, struggling to hide a chuckle when Koujirou's face quickly turned bright red. Not like he was against it, either way.

Sakuma was almost disappointed when the food was ready- he couldn’t really deny that the whole thing had been more fun than what he expected. Getting to see Koujirou's bright smile and the sparkle in his eyes as the food was set in front of him made it all worth it.

“It smells good.”

Sakuma just smiled, taking a seat right next to him.

“I hope it tastes even better, then.” After all the effort it took to get everything and cook it, it was the least he could hope for. Koujirou just nodded- and then stabbed the first piece of meat with a fork. Not exactly table manners, but at least he did remember not to try and take something fresh out of the oven with his bare hands. Sakuma was suddenly happy that the previous castle’s occupants had left behind so much seemingly useless stuff. “Careful, it’s still hot- don’t burn yourself.” Nodding again, Koujirou just took his time blowing on the meat before biting into it.

When he finally started somewhat hesitantly chewing, his ears suddenly perked up, his tail already wagging a mile per hour. Going by the way his eyes were pretty much sparkling, Sakuma felt it was safe to assume that he did like it. He didn’t even have the time to ask, Koujirou already hurrying to eat the rest, the plate cleaned within minutes.

“I guess that was good, then?”

With his mouth still full with the last bite, Koujirou limited himself to happily nod, content with his meal. When he finally swallowed, he didn’t hesitate to pull Sakuma closer and kiss him right on the lips. They tasted like meat and spices, but Sakuma didn’t care, just leaning into the kiss and enjoying the taste.

When Koujirou pulled back, that soft smile that Sakuma loved so much occupied his face.

“Thank you.”

Sakuma couldn’t help but return the smile with one of his own, a hand gently resting on Koujirou's cheek, thumb brushing his cheekbone and tracing his scars.

“Anything for you.”

Those words made Koujirou's smile turn just a bit mischievous.

“Cook for me again, then?”

Of course- should’ve seen it coming, really. Sakuma rolled his eye, planting a kiss on his cheek.

“Maybe later.”

“Alright.” Worked for him.

For now, they would just clean up what was left of the mess. Sakuma couldn’t lie and say he didn’t want to cook again, despite how tiring it could get- seeing Koujirou so happy was worth it. Maybe they could try something else next time.


End file.
